COVID-19: Miaraka amin'ity isika rehetra, saingy tsy manao toa an'izao tontolo izao

1. Despite the fact that there are several vaccines available, the number of new cases and deaths continues to rise around the world.
2. The numbers are especially being impacted by the Delta variant due to its highly-transmissible characteristics.
3. Although everyone is always talking about reaching herd immunity, the Director of the WHO Immunization Department said there is no “magic number.”

He added that prediction with the footnote that these numbers are almost certainly an undercount and anything to circumvent this virus is going to take drastic action.

Tedros said, “We’re all in this together, but the world is not acting like it.”

He lamented that despite the fact that there are several vaccines available, the number of new cases and deaths continues to rise, especially impacted of late by the Delta variant and its highly-transmissible characteristics.

Although everyone is always talking about reaching herd immunity, the Director of the World Health Organization Immunization Department, said there is no “magic number.” She explained: “It is really related to how transmissible the virus is. What’s been happening with coronavirus … is that as variants are emerging and are more transmissible, it does mean that a higher fraction of people need to be vaccinated in order to likely achieve some level of herd immunity. This is an area of scientific uncertainty.”

As an example, measles is so highly contagious that around 95% of the population has to be immune or vaccinated for it not to spread. While we completely accept being vaccinated for measles to the point that for example in America infants are vaccinated at the age of 12 months, the newness of COVID-19 is making people either lackadaisical or fearful or both. There are too many that do not trust that they are not being used as guinea pigs to test the effectiveness of “this newfangled vaccine.” Meanwhile, the death toll around the world from COVID-19 reached 4,333,094 today.

For those who contract the virus, hope lies in the fact that WHO officials stated that more research is being done on the treatment for COVID-19. An unprecedented multi-country trial called Solidarity Plus will look at the effectiveness of 3 new drugs in 52 countries.